America's BEST Commuter Rail? The Bay Area's "BART" system!
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 17 апр 2022
- Today, we take a BART service from North San José to downtown San Francisco and what I think could be America's best commuter rail system!
Date of Travel: March 2022
Class of Travel: N/A
Rolling Stock: Rohr Class A
Operator: San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District
Service type: BART
Train Number: N/A
Origin: Berryessa/North San José, San Jose, California, United States of America
Destination: Powell Street, San Francisco, California, United States of America
Cost of Ticket: $8.15 (£6.20, €7.40)
Have a question? Please comment and I will try to provide you with an answer.
A massive thanks to my $5+ Patrons and Channel Members:
@NonstopEurotrip
Grinchy
Stephen N Taksler
Andrew Morgan
Ken Malone
Arrival Unknown
Steve Ignots
Thomas Alfred Roell
Stephen Kelly
Jean Buckley
Rob Cross
William Malecki
Robert Deuel
Matt Fuller
Christopher Tilley
Robert Vandiver
John Michael Dornoff
Johannes Urbanski
Gerry Cavanaugh
Wayne Kline
Linda Vainomae-Hoffmann
Dave Manning
Douglas White
Simon Ellison
Josh Powell
Larryvilledude
Mika Hellbach
brian rosson
John
Chappers Photography
Wasim Reza
Amanda Robinson
Simon Boendermaker
Peter Harrison
David F. Bird
Steve Brittain
Sxorpion
Adam Evans
Martin Cox
Albert Alcoceba
Kyle Bullen
Jonathan Brooks
Peter John Robert Tuck
Ross Johnston
Chris Priddey
Zac Renfree
Jeff Wonsetler
Tomasz Traczyk
Mr. Donovan Recommends
oschicus
Kevin Peace
Mark Sharp
Ian Whitcomb
Paul Newton
charles Leggatt
Randle Draffen
Daniel Shurz
Jeff Soule
Doug Paulley
Richard Shields
Julie Behlmann
jeff soule
Simon Pearce
BriizzyBoi28
Pete Denton
Matt Farr
James Marshall
CarolG-
Steven Olsen
Anonymous Donor
Link to Patreon: / dylanstravelreports
Join them on Patreon and get AD-FREE early access to all of my content for as little as $1 per month!
Link to channel member's page: / @dylanstravelreports
Want to tip me? www.paypal.me/dylanstravelrep... (100% of all tips goes towards creating new videos!)
Follow me on Instagram(@dylanstravelreports): / dylanstravelreports
Twitter (@DylanReports): DylanReports?s=09
Facebook (Dylan's Travel Reports): / dylanstravelreports
#BART #SanFrancisco #trains
---------------------------------------
Credits
[1] www.openstreetmap.org under Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL) opendatacommons.org/licenses/... opendatacommons.org/licenses/... opendatacommons.org/licenses/...
If the Bay Area has the BART, and Dublin has the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit), let's hope Frankfurt doesn't copy the idea... 😳
🤣
Dallas, Texas has DART too.
@@samtrak1204 I've heard of it, yeah.
And if the city of Saint Helens ever needs a metro one it might build the SHART.
@@angus987 🤣
Fun fact: The design of the Tokyo Metro 6000 series was inspired by these BART trains.
Yes.... Asian copying didn't start with the enthousiasm the Chinese apply to that sport :) Had a look at how the Metro 6000 looks, I see the similarities, but the original design still beats the Japanese effort. It is sooo quintessential 1970's design !
BART always has such a distinct sound when accelerating/riding. Brings back memories.
Even though there's nothing picturesque about the transbay tube, it was quite the engineering feat at the time of it construction, where whole sections where sunk to the bottom of the bay and later strapped together in place! When the Loma Prieta earthquake struck in 1989, it was the only direct way to travel between San Francisco and Oakland as a section of the Bay Bridge collapsed and took a while to fix.The only thing analogous here down in Southern California is the 2-mile long tunnel under the Hollywood Hills between Hollywood/Highland and Universal City on the Red Line, where trains also reach 70mph, and can be quite deafening as well. Great vid as always, and I'm glad you're enjoying the States!
The ride on those old trains is very smooth because the wheel profile is very flat which reduces hunting oscillations. Unfortunately, it also means whenever there is even a slight curve, the wheels howl, and BART is consequently the loudest rapid transit system in the Americas. The new trains have a slightly less flat wheel profile but they’re still quite loud compared to other systems.
Thank you! I remember riding BART through the tunnel below the bay and thinking "my god it sounds like we're going into hyperspace"
@@AlextheHistorian Yes, last time I rode it a couple of years ago, it was merely "ear-splittingly loud" rather than "you feel your head will explode". Reprofiling the wheels has helped a little bit. It's definitely worst at the Oakland end of the tunnel. For reference for Londoners who've ridden the Central line out from central London past Leytonstone, it's way worse than that.
Fun fact; the developers of the sci-fi horror game Dead Space needed a terrifying sound effect for the airlocks in the game, so they recorded the BART trains: ruclips.net/video/BFPr6OlNKpg/видео.html
Luckily, BART is finally doing deferred track maintenance as we speak and with the new Bombardier cars, the noise reduction is huge.
Seemed much better when I rode it recently. Hardly any awful noises. Granted that was in one of the new cars which have much better soundproofing.
I was in the U.S. Navy stationed in San Francisco in 1961 back when the BART was being considered. That wide gauge it has came about as they expected to also connect across the Golden Gate bridge to Marin County, and that bridge can be offset by wind forces at its center by around 12 feet to either side. Alas Marin County rejected becoming part of the coalition, but the gauge width remained. It does seem to help stability, and since the entire system is fully grade separated with no possibility of freight trains using and abusing the tracks has remained smooth running. As I recall, the top design speed for the system was 80mph, and originally was meant to be driverless. The operators on board mainly see to the safety of the doors at stops If I recall. One other characteristic of the original design of the wheels made the tunnel stations remarkably quiet compared to any other subway I had ever been on, but I think that has changed.
All exactly so! With just one note, eventually the tracks did degrade sufficiently to cause pretty intense screeching on some turns. Ironically, due to how much SF Bay Area residents got used to those quiet BART trains, everyone got extremely upset at that. I really had a hard time explaining to people that that level of noise was actually pretty normal. People were positively outraged to my considerable amusement.
Alas, a few years ago they started both returning the track to its original quiet condition as well as implementing a new wheel profile. This made the new trains _incredibly_ quiet. In the areas where BART runs in highway medians, those trains can really sneak up on you. They're quieter than a car at highway speeds! They just whisper past you. Pretty cool.
The trains are so quiet that one snuck up in two track inspectors and killed them. The person operating was not a train operator, he was a shop manager being trained to operate trains in order to try to break the strike that was going on at the time. He saw the inspectors and laid on what he thought was the horn, it was actually the door close button which is right next to the horn button. Tragic.
Many years ago, my family was visiting SF, and I (a transport-loving kid) wanted to ride BART, just to say I had. The station worker was kind enough to let my family onto the train for free for a quick round-trip across the Bay and back! Thanks for jogging my memory of BART, and glad you're getting to explore one of the most expansive commuter rail networks in the US.
Expansive, but apparantly not expensive... The ticket price mentioned seems very fair to me...
I commuted to work in the "City" almost every day on BART and sometimes on CalTrain for the 20 years that I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's nice to see they've expanded BART service down into San Jose and have plans for more.
I was legitimately confused by the new names when I rode recently and almost missed the train. Antioch? Berryessa? :)
From the point of view of an occasional rider the system is growing at a pretty good clip. Hopefully, they keep it up!
Great to see you in my part of the world, Dylan! I'm glad you liked BART. I worked down the peninsula for a while and took it daily. It was fairly empty because it was Sunday. During commuter time it gets very crowded , a time I would never recommend riding it. In fact the brand new cars have less seats to crowd in more standees. The seats in your car are just a few years old, replacing dirty old cloth seats. I'm coincidentally taking it today to do some shopping.
As a frequent rider, I have to say that the new trains are more pleasant (even if the seats are a little less plush):
- Brighter lighting
- Extra set of doors
- Stronger HVAC
And a bit quieter, unless that’s my imagination
The best part is the seats are less ABSORBENT
@@aromanstuff Yes. Both because they make less noise and because the doors seal when closed.
But exterior design of the front unfortunately is less distinctive ! The original to me is a design classic, the new one is... well, just a transportation system.
@@aromanstuff No, that's definitely a thing. I was surprised too by how much quieter the new trains are. Good upgrade!
Ah, the BART, the train which cannot decide if it is a regional railway or a Metro.
It was planned to be regional at the beginning but there was great resistance from suburban areas which voted it down. Only in more recent years has it been extended and the north bay's Marin County still doesn't want it.
@@John_Fugazzi Of course the snobs in Marin County don't want BART. They don't want all those people to be able to easily and cheaply invade their space. It's the standard NIMBY attitude.
Also see: S-Bahn Berlin & Hamburg 😂
Metro because of the weird track gauge..
A super expensive space age S bahn.
I lived in the Bay Area when the first trains went into service in 1972. The southern terminus of the original single line was in Fremont. A train fell off the track into a pile of sand. As I recall, no one was hurt. Amazing to see that some of the original cars are still in service. Glad to see that the system has expanded and improved!
The Fremont Flyer!
BART is really analogous to the Paris RER trains in terms of service. It functions as a subway in the triad of San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland , and running through them coming out on either side to become commuter trains reaching serving the suburbs.
BART is classified as Rapid Transit, not a _hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system_ as the Paris RER.
Bartenders: Finally a worthy opponent. Our battle will be legendary!
Thanks for the video. When I was 18 a bunch of us kids were in San Francisco for a major band competition. It was 1974, and the system had just opened. Some of us rode from the Montgomery station out to Daly City which was the end of the line at the time. Everything was all shiny and new !
Where are they now??
This was a little stroll down memory lane for me. I visited the Bay Area almost exactly ten years ago in 2012 to visit my American friend for two weeks. We took BART on two seperate days from Union City to Powell Street to explore San Francisco. I liked the ride, it was interesting for me to see how a train like this would work in the US.
Clipper cards are tremendously useful - I've had one for years, as it makes you look less like a tourist and works on pretty much all transit in SF, Oakland and San Jose, except Amtrak. It holds cash value without expiry, you can load both cash value and MUNI passports on it, and you can register on its website which is ideal for business expense claims as it can show you a costed trip history. You definitely want a MUNI N-day passport so you can ride cable cars and streetcars (and buses) at will - it gets hugely expensive to pay for individual rides otherwise!
Ah so that's why when I put $20 on the clipper card and ride Muni buses, the money runs out after 2 days.
Works on all MTA systems, ferry, muni bus..i worked on installing it years ago...
Huh? You can use the Muni pass on cable cars? Cool! I thought those were exempt to keep the locals off and make room for the tourists.
Hayward is my main station, as I live in Hayward! BART is fairly reliable, though its accessibility accommodations could stand to be improved a bit. Personally, I like CalTrain better though I can't quite explain why.
I can! They check tickets on Caltrain and even ask people not to manspread and to remove their feet from adjacent seats! Caltrain is properly bougie compared to BART. I wish Caltrain extended under the Bay and ran next to Capitol Corridor trains!
you're the first to tell me about Berryessa and Warm Springs BART stations... I remember riding BART numerous times since its birth!
This video takes me back to my Navy days when I was stationed in Oakland. The BART trains run smoothly. More so probably than any train or mass transit system in the U.S. Good presentation. I love the shots outside the Powell Street station was a common stop for me when I visited SF on my days off. De ja vu memories. Good ones.
3:45 there actually are outlets but they're hidden! If you look under the seats between the windows with a wider gap between them (like where the other passenger was sitting) you'll sometimes find 2 outlets.
I wish you had stayed on the train a few more stops and come out to my neighborhood, Glen Park. It would have been great to meet you, and you could have enjoyed the independently owned grocery store, bookstore, gift shop, and restaurants. Thank for having a video of my local rapid transit system...and yes, I have been riding it since 1972.
Brilliant video about an intriguing system Dylan. I rode it back in 2005 and have never forgotten how comfy those seats are!
Dylan we finally crossed paths. I watched your video only 8 minutes after you posted. I made gold connectors for that system before you were born. I also made parts for the space shuttle, but I don't expect to see you there. Nice to see that it's still running smoothly. Their system is very close to yours at home. Swipe on, swipe off. I thought it a tad pricey, but I'm old. Thanks for making me smile.
Excellent Trip video! I enjoyed it. Thanks for uploading
Interesting fact: The safest place to be during an earthquake in the bay area is on a BART train in the tunnel under the bay.
why is that? wouldn’t the tunnel be at risk of collapsing?
@@markomclane475 The actual tunnel for BART isn't buried or dug through the bay. It is a series of segments that were sunk to the bottom of the bay and then only somewhat buried on the sides to make sure the tunnel segments do not move from where they were placed. They are allowed to move during an earthquake, but they stay pretty much where they were sunk.
My brother was in the tunnel during the Loma Prieta earthquake. When they got to the West Oakland station they were told they would have to get off and buses would be sent for them. As he was riding the bus through downtown Oakland someone asked the driver if there had been a bombing because of the damage. The driver's surprised reply was the first clue they had that there had been an earthquake.
@@markomclane475 BART was deliberately built to be earthquake resistant. It was a major consideration during construction. Consequently it was running within minutes of the last big one in the 80s. Meanwhile the Bay Bridge suffered catastrophic damage and was out of commission as were many other highways.
I can see why that train design could be controversial but I personally love the look - reminds me of the shuttles from TNG!
the bart in my opinion is very easy to use, the old and new trains make it easy to navigate even if you're not used to using trains as transport
im moving to california next month so this is good to know. ill be having to use the bart.
I rode BART every weekday for over two years back in the late 80's. It was fantastic!
Good job, Dylan! I just wanted to add that the BART control center is a t the Lake Merritt station in Oakland. I was lucky enough to score a tour of it a few years ago.
Dylan, you failed to mention that the system is operated from a central control center. The operator simply tresses START and the progress of the train is completely automatic. The Victoria Line in London is similar. Great video!
You mean the DLR Victoria is done by tube drivers
The Victoria drivers push a button and then the train automatically goes to the next station, the operator is just to open and close the doors. Same goes for Bart
@@basictransportenthusiast4386 Not very exciting job in that case, and probably totally underpaid ? I mean, you don't need a master's degree to open and close doors....
@@Retroscoop actually it’s paid quite well, I think last I checked Bart drivers got between 25-35 dollars an hour for full time
So you’re reviewing metro systems now? I consider the BART a short distance commuter rail that acts like a Metro in the downtown. Also conveniently I was learning about this area recently
Been riding BART since it opened. I'll miss the Classic Trains. Cheers!
Was impressed by BART when we stayed in San Fran (near Powell) but unless slightly longer journeys, tried to use the vintage Streetcars and Cable Cars as much as possible plus the fantastic bus/ trolley bus network. For an American city, San Fran really has its public transport spot on!
FYI, Indian gauge is also widely used in South America, mostly in Argentina and Chile
The Simpsons did do a gag where Sideshow Bob travelled the world and upon seeing the train he said, “Hello BART!” in his usual menacing voice.
I went from San Francisco International to Powell on the BART (my hotel was a few blocks up the cable car route.) It did screech a lot more than I was expecting in the tunnels.
If you’re a fan of obscure-ish films, George Lucas’ move THX1138 has a sequence of characters climbing a long ladder in a shaft… except it’s a camera trick, they are actually crawling up the BART tunnel under the bay before the tracks were installed.
I’m watching this while riding Bart. Cheers for checking it out!!!
Nice video Dylan. I’ve only used the BART once (in May 2018) from San Francisco International Airport (off a flight from Sydney) to Montgomery Street. It was my first trip to the US and I found BART a convenient, cheap and fast way to get to Downtown San Francisco. While the ride quality was good, I did find it fairly noisy. But at that price, who’s complaining. Maybe the new trains are a bit quieter.
hey you were in the bay area! Thanks for coming!
Great evaluation Dylan, I agree it looked like an amicable service for the fee. which to me was fair. and the cars are not that bad. seem to cover most applications for traveler's of all kinds and types. thanks for sharing. ECF.
I have ridden the BART system myself when visiting the SF Bay Area, including on the Bombardier D/E "Fleet of the Future" trains. There is actually space under the seats, especially on the D/E cars, to slide luggage under them, so luggage storage generally isn't a major problem. When I stayed in the SF Bay Area, Union City was the station I frequently traveled from, mostly connecting from a local Alameda-Contra Costa Transit (AC Transit) bus that brought me from where I stayed with family. Overall, BART is indeed a great way to get around the Bay Area, though I do wish they would introduce daily & weekly passes for tourists & monthly passes for regular commuters.
Great video!
When I visited SF about 10 years ago, I rode BARTcommuter
For some reason my comment didn’t publish properly. I had also typed that I thought BART reminded me of the Washington DC MetroRail system, which is near me. Perhaps you could check it out as well sometime. Also Virginia Railway Express (VRE), which serves my town, Manassas VA
I grew up in the Bay Area and was a kid when BART was being built. In fact my dad was actually in the tube when the 1989 earthquake hit (almost to the Oakland side) and had to walk out of the tube.
Been riding BART for over 30 years!!!
xoxo The Clarences
Long time viewer and it's cool to see you on our local metro! :D
Perhaps a small detail, but there are two different seating configurations on these older trains - this one has a 1-2 seating configuration while many of the cars have a 2-2 configuration, but the interiors are otherwise basically the same. I always like to find a car with the individual seats when I can.
The newer trains are SO much nicer that I feel kinda depressed that 90% of the time I end up on one of these older cars. Hope you get a chance to see the new trains sometime!
But the new seats are rock hard. Wouldn’t want to spend long on those so-called seats!
@@chbmckie Yeah... I guess that's a fair criticism. They seem like they'd be easier to clean though
@@chbmckie Honestly, compared to how gross the old seats got, I'll take the new seats any day! Plus they are easy to clean which brings a certain... comfort :)
Cool. Now do the SMART Train, running between Larkspur and Windsor CA
I love the look Eli gave at 3:17. Sort of like "I'm sitting here, and you're not going to change my mind, so there" :)
She says she was comfy there 😅
This may be the BEST BART video! It's so descriptive and this video of yours brings me the blind guy's delight: Description.
Come to DC sometime and review the Washington Metro…!
Good video, thanks as always!
Nice video. Something new I learned was that Bart is Indian gauge. Wow. I wouldn't have expected that. Thanks for a nice video. Greetings from Tucson.
Greetings!
Nice looking commuter trains 👌🏼😀❤️👍🏽
Yes, Dylan, BART is absolutely the best commuter rail system in the U. S. Always amazed at how smooth riding the BART system is, and how prompt with very frequent service.
I agree about the maintenance of the older trains. BART has done an excellent job on that front. Also completely agree that BART is better than CalTrain. (It has has better A/C). Thanks for doing this review. It's actually pre-dates Washington DC's Metro system and much of the technology for it was based on what was used in BART.
When I visited SF about 10-12 years ago, I thought some aspects of BART looked similar to our Washington DC Metro.
@@LarryJohnVA Apparently back in the day the magstrip tickets were actually compatible and you could technically sneak into BART with a DC ticket and ride it! These really were twin systems back in the day.
I believe Caltrain service will improve after the electrification is done. Being from Fremont (one of the stations on the green and orange line) I will definitely ride Caltrain when it is complete.
Hi Dylan! Welcome to CA! Nice video. BART is the best local transit system on the west coast!
Are you heading down to Southern CA? There is a cute route between Escondido and Oceanside. The Sprinter. Oceanside is a great connector point to Amtrak (Pacific Coast), the Coaster (to San Diego), and Metrolink (to L.A.). It is very convenient for people who live inland San Diego County, and Southern Riverside County.
Thanks for today's video🙂
Great you did video in my neck of the woods
I love the BART train because I grew up with it. I'm really going to miss the old BART cars.
I hope you'll try the New York subway system some day. Even with its many shortcomings it's one of the greatest systems in the world.
Great trip. The rolling stock is unique because the driver cab windscreen/windshield position isn't center.
Interesting you said that you prefer BART to Caltrain! I find the ride to be much more relaxing on Caltrain. But I guess I can't argue with the service frequency of BART!
Im a commuter that goes on bart to get to my college. I ride for about 2 hours each day. Bart has not been the best recently. Yes the trains are fast and smooth but 90% of the time the cars are dirty. Even the new ones just look like they are not cleaned. I do see them picking up trash at the end of each stop but usually the seats look dirty and they dont wipe them down. And also there has been a rise in homeless people and disorderly conduct of passengers. I think the system is great it just feels like they are not doing things as they should.
awsome video dylan mate i enjoyed the whole experiance
Thanks!
I live next to the Berryessa BART in San Jose, CA. I love taking BART to San Francisco.
I hope you review Muni Metro too! Take it out to the beach on the N-line, or ride a loop on the M train to Balboa Park station, then take the J back from Balboa Park to downtown to complete the loop!
My wife and I rode the BART last year. We did enjoy riding it. We decided to ride the transit system when we went to SF instead of renting a car since our hotel was just a 3 minute walk to the Millbrae station. We're from NY and the only thing I will complain about is how dirty and dingy those cars were. Most of the NYC subway here are up-to-date. The oldest cars we have is from the 1990's and they are about to be replaced with another new ones.
2:33, I remember that train from the former Earthquake Ride that Universal Studios Orlando had where it was set in a san Francisco subway and it comes in at end and derails during the earthqauke sequence, never new it was based on a real design, it looks something a theme park woukd make as a prop.
Hey Dylan - I live in the Bay Area and am from Uk originally. The BART system unfortunately has gone down the pan hole in recent years - disorderly conduct of passengers mostly - not what it use to be - they have added new trains to the old stock you were on - they seem pretty decent - keep up the reports - I check them weekly
As someone with family there, the last time I rode on them, a year ago, they were filthy, with dirt on the walls and floor. I agree it's gone downhill and I wouldn't call it the best subway in the US.
@@MsTimelady71 it’s possible that was on one of the older trains, and since they’re in the process of replacing it, they didn’t think it was worth it to repair the damage only to immediately decommission the entire train. Generally BART trains are relatively clean in my experience riding them weekly for around a year.
I rode BART recently to the city and have to say that all the doomer talk was definitely wrong. At the very least, BART seemed to be back to it's normal self from about a decade ago. Maybe it's still due to the lower pandemic ridership, but the trains and stations seemed pretty clean, I dare say even spotless. Haven't seen any disorderly conduct either. I know it's anecdotal, but that was my experience.
I remember well the BART, we used to take it into San Francisco from Alameda Naval Station, when it was still open, and when we were in port. A very smooth ride all the way, suppose to be the safest in the U.S. The part that is underground, I believe it's actually a prefabricated tube lying on the floor of the bay. It used to be a beautiful city, now I'm shocked at all the garbage and homeless camps all over.
That's a really big exaggeration imo. I was recently forced to take BART after a few years of not taking it. It was pretty nice actually. No garbage, clean stations, no crazy people, no disturbances of any kind. I don't know if it's just the post-pandemic lull or if they actually did something to improve it, but it is markedly better than it was just a few years ago.
This really looks like the most comfortable subway train ever created.
Nice one Dylan 👍
In Oct 2009, my first day ever in the US was after flying in to San Francisco from Australia. The BART ride from the airport into the city was fine, but I obviously got off one station early at Civic Center I think it was. What a mistake! It really was a culture shock to see so many homeless people walking around at street level, including having several of them come up to me (politely) asking for change while I was pulling my suitcase down the footpath.
I never saw so many homeless people in the US than I saw that day during my 6 week vacation there. My city has some homeless people too, but that part of SF was a shock.
Berryessa to Powell is my one to go trip every week
Went on this in 1998, the trains haven’t changed a bit! Those new ones are long overdue.
"For such an old train...."
The line has been around for awhile, but the tracks built on concrete ties and are always maintained and the trains themselves are the latest generation of several run over the decades. The computers running the whole thing are modernized too. It's Old-New. ;-)
Idk if anyone said this already, but for anyone that's still riding these styles in the future the never had before or when they are completely scrapped, there are cars that have double seating on both sides in the middle section.
Hey Dylan, are you still able to hear? Some say that crossing the transbay tube easily beats any heavy metal gig in terms of noise, way in excess of 100dB🙈. Don't know if they fixed that by now🤷♂️
Less known fact: this same transbay tube between Oakland west and Embarcadero was used as a set for George Lucas' first feature length movie 'THX1138' back in 1971, the climax of the movie was shot in the tube before its completion. Great movie, if you like dystopic SF😎
Don’t think this line was even in existence when I rode the Bart back in 1992. Heavy tinting of windows fine above ground but underground not so much! Some commentators find the seats uncomfortable. Frequency of service not up to European standards. Your video certainly brought back memories. Thank you.
A half-hourly service (on Sundays) hardly sounds very metro, though it is remarkably fast and in that sense really can be called rapid transit.
BART isn’t really a metro. It’s more of a hybrid metro-commuter rail system
Yes, on Sunday morning although my car may be quicker point to point, I am not responsible for parking the BART train.
It's not a Metro, more of a commuter railroad. Suburbs to city, but have to use MUNI to go anywhere in SF. And Muni is pretty horrible.and I've been on SPTA.
That's a wide train!
Although they're obviously quite different in all the ways that actually matter, the aesthetic of these trains always reminds me of the 'monorail' that used to run in the Toronto Zoo. Designed in the same cultural moment, I suppose.
Same width as the normal America trains.
I hope you rode the MUNI as well, it goes all the way to the ocean!
These trains sound very modern for their time, thought they were 90s by the sound
I think Bart train should be like the high rail sky trains in Vancouver - completely computerized, having literally no train operator present, the train can move forward and backwards. All of the operations is done is at the main control center where technicians can work and monitor things from car operations, turning on powers, issuing alerts and information to passengers, while observing everything using cameras installed on locations. They can control the speed of the train as well as the track positioning including powering up the tracks itself. These self driving trains are safer than self driving cars and are constantly monitored for malfunctions and other issues before it happens.
Excellent video
Glad you liked it!
The newer BART Stations are nice but i really love the brutalist aesthetic of the original 70s stations
Thanks Dylan. Very interesting. I rode BART from Oakland Airport to Powell Street, in 2019 just before the pandemic. I found the ticketing quite primitive in that you had to consult a fare table then use + and - buttons on the machine to determine how much to pay. I also used it to get from Powell to San Francisco Airport, where the trains ran directly into the Airport Station, without having to change. This is very different to Oakland Airport, where you use a driverless train which is hauled by cable four or five kilometres long to reach connecting trains at the Coliseum station. You don't buy tickets at the airport, so the ride is free until Coliseum. So in San Francisco there are not just cable cars in Powell, Hyde, Mason and California Streets, but they run across the bay in Oakland as well. Albeit a modern version by Dopplemeyer. BART has aged fairly well, given that it is now 50 years old. When I first rode it in 1976, it was undergoing "teething" problems with the automatic train control. The train I was on "thought" it was a short train, so would stop in the centre of the platform with the last cars in the tunnel. The operator had to engage manual control, give a toot on the whistle and drive it to the end of the platform so all cars would fit. After three or four stations of doing this, it got a bit boring as the train was progressively falling further behind time as a result!
All paper BART tickets were stored value and the fare would be deducted and the ticket returned to you. BART counted on people not bothering to calculate their fare and put $20 on. Eventually, you'd be left with a ticket with less than the minimum needed to enter, often with less than a dollar. Most people wouldn't bother adding more money to it and throw them away or stick them in a drawer somewhere. (Only once a year would BART allow you to bring in multiple tickets and have them combined) The net result was that BART had a significant revenue stream based on these unused balances.
It was one of the reasons why Clipper (Translink) was held up for years, and after that, there were rules about a separate BART balance. BART refused to join because they didn't want to lose that revenue stream. Classic California politics.
If one is a local regularly using transit one would get a Clipper card and connect it to your bank account. Whenever it runs low $50 is added automatically. A Clipper card works on just about any transit in the nine counties of the San Francisco - San José metroplex. What is not coordinated is the fares. The state government is now pushing for there to be a standard fare system in the region, similar to either the German or the Dutch systems.
@@danielcarroll3358 Seems like they are making progress on fare integration and have all the agencies run on a pulse system. It's about time too! With some luck we'll actually have a pretty functional public transit system in a few years.
@@TohaBgood2 Agreed.
Nice!!
I was just in SF on our Family vacation and we took BART from SFO to downtown as well saved us over $50 and 2 hours of sitting in traffic. It’s not very clean but it gets the job done. It was easy to get on the BART at the airport but apparently the card reader to get out did t like the cards we bought so it took us 20 mins to get out of the station. We stayed in a flat right in the trolly line but never took it as my kids thought $8.50 a person was “stupid” and they wanted to go to the aquarium instead. Oh well maybe next time.
If you want to travel on cable cars more than once, get a MUNI passport (1-day, or 7-day or whatever you need) otherwise all those $8.50s add up very quickly! You need cash value for BART, but the passport will cover streetcars, cable cars and buses. You can get them at the visitor centre at Powell station or just load one onto your Clipper card at a MUNI ticket machine (not a BART ticket machine)
Bart pros and cons:
Pros:
Fast commuter travel
Amazingly comfortable seating
Nice views of highways and neighborhoods
Amazing traction motor sounds
Cons:
High rate of violent crime (higher rate than NYC, LA, and atlanta)
Really smelly stations
Some trains can get really dirty
Don’t forget that the trains are never on time during commute or evening hours
@@Fuckthis0341 train for antioch scheduled to arrive at 7:02 am is cancelled
BART reminds me of the Washington's DC metro services. To be honest to say, DC metro has had problems ever since it was built. It's still scary to use it. But as long as you felt safe on BART, then you are good. However, I challenge you to go to Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN area some day and try the light rail transit. It was opened in 2005, before the great bridge crash out there. That was one of the best light rail services I liked. I would enjoy to try it again if I could. I hope you will visit that some day. Get lost in Mall of America too!
Interestingly, even though these two systems were basically twins early on, BART never really had those crazy reliability issues. In fact, it even withstood a massive earthquake and was running again within minutes/hours while a big chunk of our auto infrastructure was catastrophically damaged.
Very nice trains they are. Very nice.
I really like Bart. I think that the metro in Washington d.c. is as good although it's been a little longer since I've ridden that one. St Louis has a nice system although I guess it is light rail but a lot of people their use it to commute.
For the baby bullet that Caltrain runs now, the time to get into San Francisco from San Jose should be slightly faster if not on-par with Bart. It would definitely be faster than Bart after electrification.
Please review the Sounder North Line (not the south line) The north line runs twice in the morning inbound to Seattle from Everett and twice outbound in the evening. In my opinion it is the most scenic railway in the world or at least in the US and the most scenic commuter railway. Head down to Seattle to check it out, you might also try to ride our new Link 1 line S700 trains!
BART is very nice and all but I want to see your take on the cable cars!! That ought to be a good one. 😁
It's coming soon 😅
I felt that struggle to open the doors between the cars.
The Tap in/Tap out system is quite like how the Metro subway works for Washington D.C.
Speaking of their trains, I saw one new car about two weeks ago being hauled down the interstate thru Akron
Would be interested to see hotel accommodation on future travels if poss.
Whilst it's not something I plan on covering, my girlfriend is planning on starting to cover those aspects of the travel on her channel 😅
Thanks for the laugh!
You should do a segment on teh new bart trains